The background of the invention will be set forth in two parts.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the electronics manufacturing industry and more particularly to feed mechanisms for axial lead component inserters.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An axial lead component inserter is designed to accept axial lead electronic components with cylindrical bodies, to form these into an inverted U or staple shape and to insert these into a printed circuit boards quickly and efficiently. The board to be loaded is hand held, and then located by placing the holes for the component over two tapered pins. After insertion, the protruding wires are clinched to retain the component on the board.
In the past, an axial lead component inserter, as for example described in a copending patent application, Ser. No. 771,731, filed Feb. 24, 1977, and owned by the inventor of the present application, accepts axial lead components from reels which are mounted directly on the machine. One to four reels may be accommodated, and are selected by means of either push-bottons, one for each reel, or by a pre-punched paper tape program. The parts are cut from each reel by a separate cutter and fed to the insertion head by gravity.
The reels hold the full length components in a horizontal orientation in such a way that only a limited number of reels may be mounted on the inserter. This severly limits the variety of components that may be loaded on a board without necessitating the exchanging of reels with those holding different values or types of axial lead components. It should thus be evident that an improved means for delivering components to the inserter which allowed a substantial increase in the variety of components immediately deliverable to the insertion head would constitute a significant advancement of the art.